Capsule-machine



(No Model.)

S. A. RIGKARD.

CAPSULE MACHINE.

No. 555,021. Patented Feb. '18; 1896.

ANDREW B.GRAHAM. Pno-ro-u'mu. WASHINGTON. 0 CV Hal NITE TATES ATENT FFICE CAPSULE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,021, dated February 18, 1896.

Application filed November 2'7, 1895. Serial No. 570,289. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIDNEY A. RICKARD, of Saratoga Springs, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Capsule-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to machines for cutting off gelatine capsules to the length desired while on the molds; and the object of my invention is to provide improvements whereby the capsules are not only separated at the proper point from the ends known as the burs, but both capsules and burs are automatically stripped from the molds bythe operation of the machine, thus leaving the mold-plate ready for another dipping as soon as removed from its temporary place in the machine.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings,'Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is an end elevation from the left of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the moldplate. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the combined cutters and strippers. Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly in section, illustrating the position of the contractors or guide-plates during one stage of the operation of the machine. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the said plates in another position.

Similar reference characters are used in all the views to designate similar parts.

A suitable base-plate A is provided at one end with a rigid standard B and opposite said standard with ways for a frame 0, which is movable toward and from said standard by means of a lever 0 connected to a rock-shaft passing through the base A and having an arm at its other end, the said lever and arm being connected to the frame 0 near its bottom by means of the links 0.

The two uprights of the frame are adapted to receive between them the mold-plate D, which is grooved at its edges, as at 01 to receive said uprights, the mold-plate being therefore readily removable vertically from the frame. This plate D is provided with a number of molds d, which are fitted to suitable holes in the plate so as to project from the face thereof, as shown. These molds are made of glass or other equivalent vitreous material and are each provided with an enlargement or head d at one end to properly locate or stop the mold when it is .inserted in the plate. A bushing d of suitable material, such as rubber, may be employed, as shown in Fig. 5, to aid in holding each mold in the plate and yet permit it to be removed and a new one inserted if any breakage should occur. The bushing also holds the mold with sufficient elasticity to reduce the liability of breakage. The standard B is provided with bearings for the spindles e of the combined cutters and strippers E, there being as many of the latter as there are molds d. Each spindle is provided with a pinion e, and all of the pinions intermesh, one being provided with a socket for a crank, whereby all of the spindles may be rotated. On the inner end of each spindle is the spring-fork c having the inclines or cam-surfaces e and provided at the extreme end with the inwardly-bent claws a.

One arm of the fork has secured to it a spring-steel strip e having its end bent downward and sharpened to form a pointed knife or cutter e, which is adapted to be pressed through a hole 6 111 the fork-arm. This strip 6 normally stands inclined outward from the fork to hold the point of the knife just within the hole e as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

Fitted to slide in suitable ways on the base A are two uprights 1 and 2, which I term contractors, for the reason that suitable holes therein serve to contract the arms of the fork and the knife on the mold. These plates are reciprocated by suitable levers 1' and 2, respectively, through the medium of,

rock-shafts and links, in a manner similar to the lever c and links 0 for the frame 0. These plates 1 and 2 are provided with round holes, one for each of the forks 6 which pass through and are to be rotated within said holes.

The operation is as follows: A plate D having been placed so as to dip the glass molds in the gelatine in the usual manner, and the latter having been dried sufficiently to form the shells on the molds, the said plate is then placed in the frame 0, as shown in Fig. 1. The frame O is then moved so as to insert the molds between the forks e to the desired dis tance. Then the contractor-plate 2 is moved toward the molds and the walls of the holes of said plate press the knives 6 down until they cut through the gelatine to the glass. (See Fig. The spindles c are new rotated to carry the knives around the molds to cut the shells and sever the capsules from the burs. Rotation of the spindles is then stopped, plate 2 is moved back and plate 1 is advanced, as shown in Fig. 6, thus releasing the knives and causing the claws e", owing to the walls of the holes in plate 1 acting on the inclines e", to grasp the burs on the molds. Finally the frame C is withdrawn to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 6, and in so doing the molds are stripped of the capsules and burs, which then fall to the base or to any suitable receptacle, from which they may be removed to any suitable separator. The mold-plate is then ready for another dipping; but before said mold-plate or another one is placed in the frame 0 and advanced the plate 1 is moved back to the position shown in Fig. 1.

The length of the finished capsules is determined by the distance to which the molds are inserted between the forks 6- The glass molds are preferable to the metallic ones commonly used in the art, in that the knives are less liable to be dulled by the cutting action against them, and the molds themselves are not roughened by the action of the knives.

Owing to the location of the claws at a point nearer the mold-plate than the knives the said claws grasp the burs and cause them to be removed from the molds with the capsules, thus avoiding the necessity of stripping the burs by hand after removing the moldplate from the frame. It will be understood that the lever 0 may first be operated so as to withdraw the molds only enough to strip the capsules, and when the latter have been gathered up then further movement of said lever will cause the stripping of the burs.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is adapted to cut and strip but a limited number of capsules, but it is to be understood that in practice the number of molds and co1nbined cutters and strippers will greatly exceed the number illustrated here, the capacity being limited only by what may be a convenient size of mold-plate to handle or the number of spindles that can readily be intergeared and rotated.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is 1. I11 a capsule-machine, the combination with a plate having a series of holes provided with molds of vitreous material, of a series of rotatable knives adapted to cut the gelatine on said molds.

2. In a capsule-machine, the combination with the movable mold-plate, of a standard having a series of rotatable spindles each having a forked stripper and a knife, and means for contracting the knives and the strippers against the molds.

In a capsule-machine, the combination with the standard B, of the spindle c mounted therein and geared together, the forks c having claws e and knives c, the frame (1 movable toward and from the standard, and the plate D, having a series of glass moldsd, substantially as described.

4. A capsule-machine comprising in its construction a mold and a rotatable cutter and stripper therefor, said. cutter and stripper consisting of a spring-fork having claws and a spring-strip having a knife at one end and secured by its other end to one of the arms of the fork.

5. A capsule-machine comprising in its construction a standard carrying a series of cutters and strippers each consisting of -a rotary spring-fork having claws and a spring-strip carried by one of the arms of said fork and having a knife at its end, a movable plate carrying a series of molds, and two plates movable in the space between the standard and mold-plate and having openings through which the cutters and strippers extend, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIDNEY A. RIGKARI). \Vitnesses:

L. D. IIUMPHREY, JOHN K. Wamsmnen. 

